He was born under the sign of the Areaster [1], on the day of the New Moon in the Sixth Month [2], in the phratra [3] Chrysarieis, which dwelled on the far fringe of the valley [4], northwest of the great city Egroiokos [5]. They had settled there in the times of his grandfather Aneptopomenos, who, under
Egrois [6] Phereos, had led a band of warriors to conquer this land from the natives, wild men with an incomprehensible language who were now long forgotten [7]. His father Kousotegetos was likewise a great warrior; he led the phratra's warriors in the great
Egrois Akurogos' campaigns: to the west, and to the north, and to the east. It was in the east that he had fought against the blue-painted men [8], and had slain their chieftain in pre-arranged single combat; the blue-painted men, who were ferocious opponents, had to concede the battle on that day after the death of their chieftain, and Akurogos, being an honourable ruler, allowed them to flee north into the wilderness where nothing was heard from them ever again. The valuables that they had to leave behind were then looted, and Akurogos allowed Kousotegetos to take as much as he could carry, and also to loot the chieftain's corpse. From that corpse he took, among other things, a red bracelet; the chieftain was an admirable opponent, and so upon his return to his phratra Kousotegetos gave it to his youngest son, as if foreseeing the tragic death of his older ones and everything that came after. This son was called Reptoreos; but later he came to be known as "Red Bracelet", Erutogeros.
That came much later, when Kousotegetos was long dead. Until then, Reptoreos too fought under the banners of Akurogos; the long-reigning
Egrois sent his warriors farther and farther still, yet at the same time more and more often the loyal phratras were called to defeat the uprisings of the disloyal. The first great uprisings - those of the Three Great Phratras [9] and of
Raiaketos [10] Diphteriois the Traitor - came back when Kousotegetos himself was a young warrior; the uprisings that came after that were smaller, but more frequent, as every now and then someone from Akurogos' own surroundings or from amongst the old nobility of the Three Great Phratras would try and make a bid for power, or perhaps some local leader would decide his tribute to be no longer mandatory and claim himself a free king or even
Egrois in his own right. Kousotegetos helped put down several such uprisings, and the phratra benefited from this as it was granted more lands for its loyalty. Then, after Kousotegetos died of old age, Reptoreos' brother Mitoiesaisos took charge of the phratra's warriors, including Reptoreos himself; under his command they put down a new rebellion by the Three Great Phratras, and then the uprising of Akurogos' son Kakoipios, amongst lesser ones. Sadly, by then Akurogos was very old and ill; and his empire grew old and ill with him, disintegrating and convulsing in the pain of rebellion and interfighting. Still, to the end of his reign, the Chrysarieis phratra fought on; after it ended, in the tumultous "reign" of
Egrois Aurios, all hell truly broke loose.
Mitoiesaisos was a good warrior, but he was giftless as far intrigues at the court were concerned; he remained loyal to the
Egrois when he was first deposed, and so led phratra's warriors in a daring attack on Egroiokos. It was a miracle: the attack succeeded, taking the warriors of the Three Great Phratras by surprise, freeing Aurios and bringing him back to the palace; shocked, and at the same time attacked by rebel warbands from the outskirts, the elders of the Three Great Phratras agreed to recognise Aurios in exchange for an alliance with the Chrysarieis. The further attacks on Egroiokos, by the military aristocracy and the outer phratras, were all fought back; once more the Chrysarieis fought bravely, but they took large casualties and so were weakened. As soon as the pressure receded, the Three Great Phratras merely deposed Aurios again, and attacked the Chrysarieis warriors in the city itself. Mitoiesaisos and some other brothers perished; Reptoreos survived and rallied the remaining warriors, leading them out of the city. The countryside was engulfed in civil war; the Three Great Phratras, secure in their power, set upon one another, while Aurios first played them against each other and then escaped south to raise an army amongst his traditional supporters. Reptoreos no longer cared; he sought merely to bring his warriors back to the settlement, and then to protect his phratra from everyone until the madness recedes. They fought their way north; gradually many of them died off, but many more still persevered and continued their journey; but in the end, on a bright winter morning, they found the remains of their settlement in ashen ruins, their families long dead. The Chrysarieis phratra was destroyed for its loyalty, it was no longer there. These ruins were the end of their journey - the end of their lives. A fair amount decided to end it right there, and took their own lives. Some of the warriors despaired, others ran off elsewhere, some swore vengeance, some more still wanted to join some other phratra that would want their spears. Many others just stood there, unsure what to do. Eventually, though, they all dispersed. All but one.
Reptoreos had ceased to be on that fine winter morning. His body did not leave the ruins, it sat down and thought about all that has happened. The world had gone astray, and that which worked in the past no longer worked. This man who sat in the ruins was once a warrior and a nobleman of the Chrysarieis phratra. That meant that he was, above all things, loyal. But he had no father now, and no brother, and no true
Egrois - whoever sat on the great throne in Egroiokos now, be he Aurios or one of his enemies, was not worthy, otherwise all would have been well. There was no-one to be loyal to now; even his warriors were no longer there, they had dispersed. Therefore loyalty was no longer anything at all, it was a thing of the past; but still, what was there besides loyalty? Nothing. Therefore something had to be done, so that there would be someone to be loyal to once again. But the nameless man knew not whom to.
He then remembered something else; he had on his right hand a red bracelet of the chieftain of the blue-painted people. Those people were loyal to him; once he fell, they ran off, and disappeared thusly. So the warriors of the phratras were all doomed to disappear as well, lest someone arise to lead them. He thought back to another, closer time, and remembered how his warriors were being massacred in Egroiokos when his brother died. He took charge back then, the man with the red bracelet, and he led them out; never mind that he led them to ruins, he still saved them from death. He did not stop to think back then, though; there was no time for thinking then. Nor was there time now, truth be told; and so Erutogeros set out.
In the woods he survived by hunting and gathering; there he gradually encountered refugees from elsewhere, and persuaded them to follow him. He helped them survive, and led them from place to place. He grew bolder: he then went from camp to camp, then from settlement to settlement. Little by little, over the course of a year, he had amassed a large following. Sometimes, people tried to fight him; he sought negotiations; if and when that failed, he fought, and never lost. People believed him; those others who had no-one to believe in envied the believers, and joined them as well, as he led them from victory to victory. He unified the northwest; then, the central north as well, and moved to the lands along the river itself when the rumours came that Aurios was executed, and the old dynasty was dead, while chaos reigned in the city. He moved to Egroiokos; the rumours moved to truth, and once there he saw the proud city again, quite damaged and depopulated. His army easily outnumbered what few warriors the citizens, the Three Great Phratras and the local warlord [11] who named himself
Egrois could put together even in alliance (and such they did not really have). The citizens allowed him in; the priests and nobles of the Phratras, tired of the fighting, welcomed him in as well when he pledged to respect their privileges and help them restore their former wealth and greatness. The warlord challenged him in single combat; he was easily beaten, and his men refused to help him when he told them to ambush Erutogeros. Erutogeros offered him mercy, and when rejected finished him off, then went into the palace and sat down on the throne; the priests came there themselves and proclaimed him
Egrois.
Ofcourse, that was not it quite yet; many parts of the country remained in the hands of local warlords, and though Erutogeros' lieutenants gradually drove them back it was taking too long and the damage was too great; so Erutogeros summoned the warlords into Egroiokos, he allowed them to come with as great a retinue as they would like, and feasted with them in the great halls, and then sat down and talked. At the end, they too came to believe him; he swore to protect their rights and privileges as local rulers, and they swore eternal loyalty to him and his. His was a new dynasty; he had later married the daughter of the high priest Atoiatos, and though she bore him several daughters first (those were married off to the former warlords), eventually he also received a son: Aurigiros, who was strong and healthy. By then Akurogos' realm was one again; from west to east, all hailed the Ksiliotic [12] banners of the
Egrois in Egroiokos. The world was set right again, and so Erutogeros could at last look further beyond, where there were many strange and different peoples. Some, he thought, might be allies, others may be slaves, and perhaps there would also be worthy opponents as well; all will benefit the Ksiliotic phratras in their own way.
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The embassy [13] arrived, appropriately enough, on the Day of Aphorthea in the First Month, in the 24th year of the reign of
Egrois Erutogeros. It announced its arrival with the loud sound of trumpets. Five elephants [14] entered the wide city gates, guarded by warriors in spectacularly-ornamented uniforms. Commoners and guards looked by in wonder as the strange people from down the river came [15]. A messenger had already entered the palace and announced the source of the commotion; Erutogeros smiled, and beckoned his sons, advisers and lieutenants to follow as he stepped out of the palace; the high priest and leaders of the Three Great Phratras joined them soon after.
Elephants proceeded calmly through the wide streets; Erutogeros was himself quite amazed with their discipline as he looked by from the steps that led to the palace. Clearly he was not wrong to side with these southerners [15]. The first two elephants bore various gifts: exotic foodstuffs, jewelry, women's clothes, weapons and other such things; there was also an envoy on one of those, with a parchment upon which, Erutogeros knew, was the written confirmation of the new trade agreement. He himself did not much trust the power of the written word, but understood that in the south it was valued greatly - fair enough, that too was quite understandable.
On the third and fourth elephant there came men, with tools of their trades; those craftsmen were, according to another treaty, obliged to take apprentices in Egroiokos and teach them all that they knew. Erutogeros knew for a fact that the southerners were nowhere near the warriors the Ksiliotai were, otherwise they would not have approached him in the first place, but he also knew well enough from his merchants that they excelled in arts and crafts; surely, however, that came to them with experience, and if that experience were to be shared the craftsmen and artisans in Egroiokos itself would in time come to surpass their mentors. There was a certain glory and beauty, not to mention permanence, in good works of art; therefore it was good and was to be encouraged, though not over warfare.
And on the fifth elephant... Erutogeros was both relieved and awed. From all that he had heard of the southern women, he expected the worst; but he knew now that he made no mistake, and that his son, Aurigiros, would have a worthy wife. Even from this distance her beauty was apparent; Erutogeros only hoped that she also had the presence of mind to provide a civilising influence on his impetuous son.
That would surely be needed. Erutogeros knew this well enough: he was growing old. It was good that he had prepared for himself an adequate (if not excellent) successor, and now, with the arrival of Belphine from the southern lands, the line was apparently secure. With this taken care of, he liked to think that his great work was finally done; he would not fail in triumph like Akurogos, who was now scarcely remembered by anyone other than his former warrior Reptoreos, did so long ago. What went astray back then was now set right; and Erutogeros felt that Reptoreos still lived within him. That youthful heart still called for battle and glory; and that was well, for Erutogeros likewise knew that it was far better for him to die in battle rather than rot away at Akurogos once did.
Very well then! Nazar Mufti had carried out his side of the deal; now Erutogeros was able to carry out his. He stepped forth to greet the embassy; after that there would be some more ceremonies and a feast, but the planning of the wedding was probably best left to his smart wife, Temenotokatea. Himself he would have to call forth his lieutenants and start planning the promised campaign against the Erevas [16].
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Footnotes/Addendum:
I usually prefer to avoid explaining obscure terms, but as this isn't set in anything near the real world I figured I might as well explain a few things. And make references to Celts and people who resemble them.
[1] Areaster is some star or planet associated with Are, the God of War.
[2] The calendar is partly ripped off from that of the ancient Greeks and partly from that of the ancient Romans (and I mean the seriously ancient Romans - not quite the most ancient Romans, but ancienter then you usually expect Romans to be, even ancient ones), but mostly it's supposed to be a primitive version upon which I hope to later improve.
[3] A phratra is, simply put, a clan. The basic unit of socio-political organisation in the early Ksiliotic state.
[4] The valley is, ofcourse, the valley of whatever that river the Ksiliotic "empire" happens to sit on is called (we just call it the river); for the most part, that's the full extent of our settlement, and the lands beyond the valley are considered whole different worlds, inhabited as they are by strange, though sometimes useful, barbarians. The far fringe of the valley thus stretches along the entire borders of the polity, except perhaps for the west and the east; it is far from an unified region, therefore, but there are inevitable social similarities. Also, the fringe-dwellers tend to ally against the people of the core in times of civil war; that said, they as easily turn upon each other.
[5] "The King's Home"; as impressive as cities get at our present level. As mentioned later, it has very wide streets (for the time); there are also large buildings, and extensive settlement just outside of the walls.
[6]
Egrois is simply translated as "king", but there are many other titles here that may be translated as such; as of the reign of Erutogeros, for instance, the warlords turned semi-pseudo-quasi-feudal local leaders are each granted the title of "Nakatos". So perhaps
Egrois is best translated as "high king".
[7] No relations to the "Bear People" or what'stheirname, though the similarity is obvious.
[8] No Scotsmen were hurt during the writing of this passage.
[9] "All phratras are equal, but the Three Great Phratras are
way more equal than all others taken together." These clans (which dwell near Egroiokos) are the very core of the Ksiliotic ethnos; most others are offshots that settled in other lands during the various outbursts of expansion. In the more narrow sense, this is the traditional tribal nobility and priesthood of said three phratras, which, despite some internecine strife, often enough formed a common front against everybody else. Early on this was the main support base of the
Egrois; but as a new military aristocracy and the phratras of the fringe grew more powerful and more useful, the Three Great Phratras began to lose in power and influence. They did not take it well and kept rebelling when given the opportunity, in hope of either extorting or replacing the present
Egrois; most rebellions were put down, but no
Egrois seriously dared even think of purging, much less destroying or demoting, those Phratras. A few executions of particularly obvious guilty rebels, a slap on the wrist of those truly responsible but too respectable to be blamed and some territorial redistribution, that's all.
[10] Military leader/lieutenant from the military aristocracy. The military aristocracy too had it's own elite of veterans; once they got enough wealth and power they got uppity and decided that now that the Three Great Phratras could no longer push them around
they could push around anyone they like. The
Egrois disagreed; Diphteriois disagreed with his disagreement.
[11] After the confusing, omnisided civil war raged on for long enough, and the lines between various phratras and factions became blurred enough, those people rose to the forefront. Technically, our hero was one himself; the most perfect example, as a matter of fact, so perfect in fact that he no longer applies as he was able to become more than a mere warlord.
[12] The Ksiliotai is a more extensive ethnonym; it is, well, Ksiliotic in origin, but actually used quite rarely except when comparing to or dealing with other people. "Men of the Phratras" (Phratrai) is actually used more often when speaking about the whole of the Ksiliotic people, as people identify themselves with their phratras more but also realise that there are people out there that don't live in phratras as such. That, ofcourse, has already began to change in this time, but steadily so.
[13] As in, a visiting diplomatic mission. I seem to recall Daftpanzer confusing those with modern-type permanent embassies. It's not one, just so you know.
[14] Actually, I'm not sure; there might have been more. Birdjaguar, care to comment?
[15] Who could those mysterious southerners/people from down the river be?
[16] Sorry for keeping you waiting, NK, especially for this kind of an answer. Also: muwhahaha.
I'll like to note that this is the first clash of cultures; people just don't understand our flowery language! 
Your command of English is quite excellent.
*goes to terrorize other cradles*
